title: Effects of parenting practices on sexual risk-taking among young people in Cameroon.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  There is scanty evidence regarding the impact of parenting practices on young people's sexual risk-taking in sub-Saharan Africa. Moreover, the extent to which such practices have enduring consequences on adolescents and young adults is little documented. This study uses repeated measures of parent-child relationships, parental monitoring, and parent-child communication about sexual matters to shed some light in these two areas.
  
  
  METHODS
  The analysis is based on time-dependent retrospective data on parenting practices which were retrieved from the Cameroon Family and Health Survey (CFHS). The study sample includes 447 sexually active and unmarried individuals aged 15-24 years old. Correlation analysis and multivariate logistic regressions are used.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Young males and females reported high levels of parental monitoring, moderate quality of parent-child relationships and low levels of parent-child communication on sexual matters. This study substantiates that the higher the quality of parent-child relationships, the lower the odds of young males having multiple sexual partners (0.63, p < 0.05), and the lower the odds of young females being sexually active (0.52, p < 0.10) or of having multiple sexual partners (0.64, p < 0.10) or of having occasional sexual partners (0.51, p < 0.05). Living with the biological father only was associated with higher odds of having multiple sexual partners (3.21, p < 0.10) and higher odds of occasional concurrent sexual partners (3.26, p < 0.10) among young males. Compared with their out-of-school counterparts, young males still enrolled in school were less likely to be sexually active in the last 12 months (0.33, p < 0.05) and less likely to have occasional concurrent sexual partners (0.57, p < 0.10), whereas young females still enrolled in school were more likely to be sexually active (2.25, p < 0.10) and less likely to use contraceptive consistently (0.36, p < 0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Reproductive health programs and interventions for preventing young people's risky sexual behaviors in sub-Saharan African settings must take into account the protective effects of parent-child relationships and the significance of parental monitoring over time.
authors.affiliation: African Population and Health Research Center, PO Box 10787-00100, Nairobi, Kenya. esidze@aphrc.org
authors.forename: Estelle M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Sidze
authors.forename: Barthelemy Kuate
authors.initials: BK
authors.lastname: Defo
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017954:Africa South of the Sahara; D002163:Cameroon / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012309:Risk-Taking; D012737:Sex Factors; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D012747:Sexual Partners; D055815:Young Adult